New Jersey Reports Second Fungal Meningitis Case

TRENTON, NJ (CBS) – New Jersey is now reporting two cases of fungal meningitis related to steroid injections.

On Tuesday, officials said a 70-year-old Cumberland County man was hospitalized with the illness. He received an injection of a steroid from one of the lots recalled by a specialty pharmacy in Massachusetts and tied to the meningitis outbreak. He’s currently receiving intravenous anti-fungal medication and recovering in the hospital.

Then, on Wednesday, the New Jersey Department of Health reported a second case of the illness. The patient is a 57-year-old man from Cumberland County. An official statement from South Jersey Healthcare said he is recovering at the facility in Vineland and is also receiving intravenous anti-fungal medication. He reportedly contracted the injection on July 12 at South Jersey Healthcare Regional Medical Center from one of the lots recalled on September 26 by New England Compounding Center (NECC) located in Framingham, Mass.

The statement also read in part:

“South Jersey Healthcare is working with the CDC and the New Jersey Department of Health, along with our county departments of health, to monitor and care for any patients who are being evaluated or who have been identified by the Department of Health as having presumptive fungal meningitis.

Under patient privacy laws, we cannot provide any further details at this time about any specific patient. However, we will continue to partner with the CDC and Department of Health to continue monitoring these patients and provide updates as appropriate.”